Report says torture was outsourced

Investigator: U.S. farmed out interrogation of terror suspects.

Investigator: U.S. farmed out interrogation of terror suspects.

January 25, 2006|MATTHEW SCHOFIELD Knight Ridder Newspapers

BERLIN -- A European investigator said Tuesday that there's evidence that the United States set up a system to outsource the interrogations of terrorism suspects to countries where torture is used, and European governments probably knew about it. Dick Marty, chairman of the European Parliament's committee on legal affairs and human rights, said published reports and government statements supported allegations that the CIA transported prisoners to countries where they were tortured and operated secret interrogation prisons in some European countries. It was the first official European inquiry into the claims. Marty said more investigation needs to be done. "Drawing on all this concordant information and evidence we can say that there is a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of 'relocation' or 'outsourcing' of torture," the report states. "Acts of torture, or severe violations of detainees' dignity through the administration of inhuman or degrading treatment, are carried out outside national territory and beyond the authority of the national intelligence services." Marty said European governments almost certainly knew about the practice, known as "rendition." "'Rendition' affecting Europe seems to have concerned more than a hundred persons in recent years," Marty wrote. "Hundreds of CIA-chartered flights have passed through numerous European countries. It is highly unlikely that European governments, or at least their intelligence services, were unaware." European governments have in general claimed ignorance about the alleged practice, and U.S. officials have said that no prisoners were transferred to countries with the expectation that they would be tortured. In Washington, a spokesman for the National Security Council reiterated those earlier denials. "The United States does not torture. We've said this numerous times in numerous venues," said Fred Jones. "We follow law. The report cites no evidence of any secret prisons or any evidence that the United States was complicit in torture." State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called the report "the same old reports wrapped up in some new rhetoric." Europe's vice president for freedom, justice and security, Franco Frattini, called on countries to cooperate with Marty.